Panetta doubts Iran's ability to build drone copy

US defense secretary makes statement after Tehran claims it is in final stages of decoding data from downed Sentinal aircraft.

Drone (illustrative).
(photo credit:REUTERS)

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday cast doubt on Iranian military claims that it started building a copy of a US surveillance drone captured last year.

Revolutionary Guards
Commander Brigadier was quoted saying in Iranian media on Sunday that engineers were in the final stages of decoding data from the Sentinel aircraft, which came down in December near the Afghan border.

"It's obviously a classified program and I don't want to get into the particulars of that program," Panetta told reporters shortly before landing in Colombia. "But I think I can tell you based on my experience that I would seriously question their ability to do what they say they've done."

Iran said the unmanned aircraft was shot down but Washington disputes that and has said in the past that the security systems mean Iran is unlikely to get much valuable data from the Lockheed Martin Corp drone.

The RQ-170 Sentinel has been widely
used since 2010 in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It played a role in the operation in which Osama bin Laden was killed last year, analysts say.

Iran has
repeatedly displayed images of the American stealth plane through
Iranian media, attempting to prove it skillfully captured the drone. The
UAV is 5.4 meters in length, and has a wingspan of 26 meters, Iranian news agency Mehrreported.
The aircraft is able to avoid detection by radar systems through
"special materials that compose its exterior," according to the report.

Iran's
downing of the American drone was an embarrassment for the Obama
administration, which subsequently asked Iran to return the plane.

An
Iranian defense official said recently that Tehran has received
numerous requests for information on the craft and that China and Russia
have shown most interest.